Chavez in Iran for talks on boosting oil, gas ties ... nothing is going to stop us, we are free, sovereign and independent."AP/FoxNews- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was holding talks Tuesday with Iranian leaders expected to focus on boosting cooperation between the countries' oil, gas and petrochemical industries.
Chavez, who is on his ninth visit to Iran as president, praised Caracas' ties with its close Mideast ally, saying they "are solid and very, very deep." In remarks carried on Venezuelan state television, Chavez said relations with Tehran are based both on "shared interests" and a mutual belief in the importance of Iranian sovereignty.
The Venezuelan leader, who has backed Iran in its confrontation with Western powers over Tehran's disputed nuclear program, said he and Ahmadinejad would discuss "the tensions that (U.S.) imperialism is generating" in the Middle East and "the unfair sanctions imposed on the people of Iran," referring to the U.N. sanctions imposed on Iran over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
| Total Imports of Petroleum (EIA) (Thousand Barrels per Day) | |
|---|---|
| Country | Jul-10 |
| CANADA | 2,534 |
| MEXICO | 1,289 |
| NIGERIA | 1,174 |
| VENEZUELA | 1,084 |
UPI - Venezuela-Russia nuke deal a new headache for U.S., IAEA
U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in Washington the United States hoped both Russia and Venezuela would act responsibly and adhere to IAEA rules. Comparisons with the Iran nuclear row figured in Crowley's briefing with reporters.
Any criticism of Chavez is readily equated in Caracas with ill intentions toward Chavez but oil-rich Venezuela this year won dubious distinction as the only major Latin American economy to shrink despite steady income from crude oil exports.
Prolonged outages of power and water supplies in 2009 and this year, which exacerbated popular discontent, were partly the result of severe drought but expert evidence cited in the government's own performance reports cited inefficiencies and waste.
Poor investment in the energy sector was also blamed for the energy crisis. A stopgap investment program to upgrade the infrastructure at a cost of $192 million was seen by opposition critics as too little too late.
The 500 megawatt Russian-built power station could take several years to be ready but Chavez faces elections next year and has seen his congressional majority halved in recent polls.
After a deal signed during his ninth visit to Moscow since coming to power in 1999, Chavez announced: "Venezuela is on its way to getting nuclear power. I hardly need to say so but I'll say it anyway: for peaceful purposes, of course." ....the deal follows more than $4 billion of Russian military sales, at least $2.2 billion on flexible credit terms. The deal enabled Russia to transfer Soviet-era military hardware to Venezuela as part of its strategy to stimulate Russian arms industries. Included in the deal are about 100 T-72 tanks, fighter jets and helicopters, short-range missiles and 100,000 Kalashnikov rifles of an earlier make.
Opposition critics of Chavez say the arms buying is superfluous to Venezuela's needs.
Chavez says Venezuela needs the weapons to defend itself against foreign adversaries among which names Colombia and the United States.
